


Don't Believe The Lies

by Kayim



Category: Leverage, The Losers - All Media Types
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-08
Updated: 2011-10-08
Packaged: 2017-10-24 10:13:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/262331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kayim/pseuds/Kayim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eliot's not willing to believe the news reports about his old team's deaths.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Don't Believe The Lies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [james](https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/gifts).



> Happy Belated Birthday!

Eliot had only ever taken advantage of Hardison's skills and asked him to hack something on his behalf on one occasion. Admittedly, it was the US Army that he wanted hacking, so it was a pretty large request.

Death records were easy enough to fake, anyone who had worked on the less-than-legal side of things could tell you that much, but the ones that Hardison was analyzing were superb quality. Five men wiped out in Bolivia with nothing more than a single note on their files that indicated they were traitors. But Eliot refused to believe the official records and kept Hardison digging deeper, looking for whatever was being hidden.

A week later and Hardison was ready to give in. He'd come up against dead-end after dead-end. Every trick he'd tried was being blocked, and not by the US military. He'd bypassed every firewall they had in place three days earlier. This was someone else. Someone with skills way above his pay grade.

"I agree with you, man," he said, his hands held up in defense as Eliot scowled at him and stalked towards his laptop. This was already a replacement for the last one Eliot had thrown from a window. "I don't think they're dead. But I can't track them. Whoever is covering for them is a damn sight better than I am."

Eliot thought about Jake Jensen, the first hacker he'd worked with, remembering how irritating he'd been. And he remembered how many times that same irritating kid had saved his ass. He smiled at the memory and nodded to Hardison. "He's the best there is."

*

There were two methods Eliot turned to when he wanted to relax. With no bad guys close enough to hurt, he was left with only one choice.

"Cookies?" Sophie stood in the doorway, her eyes closed as she inhaled the scent of chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. The oven installed in Nate's apartment was much better than the one in his own and he'd insisted on keeping one of the cupboards stocked with baking ingredients. "I'm impressed."

Wiping down the work surface, Eliot shrugged. "Double chocolate chip," he confirmed. "I like to bake. It takes my mind off things."

Since Hardison's confirmation that his old team was still alive, Eliot had felt at a loose end. The news report on their deaths had taken him by surprise, leaving him grateful that the rest of his new team couldn't see him throwing up and shaking in his small apartment. He'd never even told Nate and the others about the Losers – it wasn't the type of discussion you bring up randomly – and now he was constantly thinking about them, planning an extraction, plotting their rescue. Not that he had any idea where he could start, but Bolivia seemed like a perfect place to begin.

"Eliot. If there's something –-"

He shook his head and interrupted her. "I need to talk to the whole team. Together. And soon."

As he reached down to pull the cookies from the oven, Sophie turned around and left.

*

Nate, Hardison and Sophie were already sitting around the table when Eliot walked in, holding the tray of freshly baked cookies. Parker followed him in silently. He realized that in itself was a testament to his distracted state of mind – he hadn't even noticed her behind him.

"What's wrong?" Nate wasn't interested in the baked goods or the concerned look on Sophie's face. He pushed straight to the point. Just like Clay would have done, Eliot realized. There were so many similarities between this team and his old one that sometimes he'd forget who he was working with. He would have loved to see Hardison and Jensen get together, and he knew that even Roque wouldn't be able to match Parker's levels of crazy. Sophie and Pooch would have got on like a house on fire. And Cougar? Well, there could only ever be one of him.

Eliot slid the tray onto the table, ignoring Nate's question for a moment as he watched both Hardison and Parker reached out to grab a cookie each. Hardison threw him a look that said _I know what's going on and I've got your back_. Parker just bit into the cookie and gave a moan of delight. Chocolate and money. That was Parker to a tee.

"Three months ago there was a news report about a team of Army Special Forces who had turned rogue and killed a bunch of civilian children."

Hardison studied his cookie intently, avoiding the look that Nate was giving him. "I remember seeing it," Nate said.

"That was my old team."

The silence that filled the room was interrupted only by the sound of Parker chewing on her cookie.

Sophie was the first to speak. "I'm sorry, Eliot."

He looked over to Hardison, the words sticking in his throat.

"They're not dead," the hacker said. "The death reports were fake."

Three pairs of eyes widened. Parker and Sophie were shocked by the news, but out of them, only Nate understood what that meant.

"They've been burned."

"They didn't do what they were accused of, and they're probably stuck out in South America somewhere with no resources. I need to go and help them."

"No." Nate shook his head, finally reaching for one of the cookies in front of him. He took a bite, staring at Eliot.

Eliot clenched his fists, taking a step towards Nate. He'd given almost everything for this team, for Nate. He wasn't willing to give up on his _other_ team just because Nate had a stick up his…

"I'm not going to allow you to head out to who-knows-where, with no backup, on the off chance that you'll be able to find them by yourself. You'll be either dead or in a Colombian prison by the end of the month."

Hardison, Sophie and Parker all spoke at once, defending Eliot's decision, and criticizing Nate's lack of faith.

Nate held up a hand and waited for them to quieten down and then smiled at them. "Let's go steal ourselves a Special Forces team."


End file.
